Inside-outside swing

[FiveFrameSwing]

Dad speak...'hit the inside seam of the ball'.

Right ... now let's say you are receiving a screwball, and you're looking to smack the inside seam ... but, during your "short-to" you misjudged the pitch and thought it was further out (less inside), only to find out that in reality the pitch is more inside than you initially planned on. Despite having an inside-out swing, you can still find yourself 'jammed' / 'sawed off'.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Even for non-movement pitches a hitter has to track the ball and predict where it will end up to make good contact. If their prediction is off by more than approx 1.5 inches in the vertical plane, the result usually will be a swing and a miss. In the horizontal plane the tolerance is greater and a swing and a miss typically doesn't result unless the prediction is more than 4 inches off. A pitcher who can throw the same pitch(es) at different speeds significantly complicates a hitters job because timing is an independent rather than fixed variable in the contact equation.

If you can't track the ball and accurately predict the path of the ball, the swing, mechanically good or bad, is irrelevant. If you can track and predict, good swing mechanics afford a hitter the adjustability to consistently make good contact. If you can track and predict, less than ideal swing mechanics leave you susceptible to certain pitches/pitch locations.

The number of broken bats every MLB game is proof that getting jammed and sawed off isn't limited to amateurs. Why did Mariano break so many bats? (Hint: It wasn't because the hitters had poor swings)

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

We swing with a diagonal barrel path.

A misread in the horizontal plane results a depth timing issue. Hitting is timing. It's why tee work will only get a developing hitter so far.

A broken bat is generally not the result of a vertical misread, but of a horizontal misread.

Angled pitches benefit the pitcher by making it more difficult for the batter to accurately predict, early in their swing, the horizontal location at impact.

 

[go4um]

Another aspect that has a big impact is pitch location sequence. At every level, if a P gets the batter to consciously or unconsciously expect, respect or fear one pitch location and can locate the next pitch to the opposite location then it's often difficult for the batter to make a good swing adjustment even with good mechanics. Obviously, speed and movement add to the difficulty. Allowing ball to travel a little bit deeper is an advantage of inside-out mechanics. The high-low sequence is just as effective as in-out.

 

[TDS]

Another aspect that has a big impact is pitch location sequence. At every level, if a P gets the batter to consciously or unconsciously expect, respect or fear one pitch location and can locate the next pitch to the opposite location then it's often difficult for the batter to make a good swing adjustment even with good mechanics. Obviously, speed and movement add to the difficulty. Allowing ball to travel a little bit deeper is an advantage of inside-out mechanics. The high-low sequence is just as effective as in-out.

If one is able to release the initial stretch of the core, the hands will be free to direct the barrel to most locations.. The barrel un-tipping action needs to be a release move.. Same as a backswing in golf.. The backswing needs to happen due to the release of the core not a deliberate hand/arm action to get the club head back.

 

[Yellowjacket]

Inside the Box - SI.com

Great article on staying inside the ball.


In the last 25 years, as further biomechanical studies have been done and video technology has improved, Williams's emphasis on rotational power and Lau's emphasis on linear power—they were both right—have blended to create the modern swing. To understand the overriding theme of current hitting theory, ask the three hitters today who are best at getting on base what the most important element of the swing is.

The Tigers' Miguel Cabrera (.452 on-base percentage, best in the majors): Stay inside the ball.

The Reds' Joey Votto (.434, second): I always try to stay inside the ball. I try to make sure when I make contact with the ball it's not topspin or carved—it's coming off true.

The Angels' Mike Trout (.430, third): The biggest thing is staying inside the ball, using my hands. That's the key for any guy coming up—patience to stay inside the ball and not trying to yank everything down the line.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Inside the Box - SI.com

Great article on staying inside the ball.


In the last 25 years, as further biomechanical studies have been done and video technology has improved, Williams's emphasis on rotational power and Lau's emphasis on linear power—they were both right—have blended to create the modern swing. To understand the overriding theme of current hitting theory, ask the three hitters today who are best at getting on base what the most important element of the swing is.

The Tigers' Miguel Cabrera (.452 on-base percentage, best in the majors): Stay inside the ball.

The Reds' Joey Votto (.434, second): I always try to stay inside the ball. I try to make sure when I make contact with the ball it's not topspin or carved—it's coming off true.

The Angels' Mike Trout (.430, third): The biggest thing is staying inside the ball, using my hands. That's the key for any guy coming up—patience to stay inside the ball and not trying to yank everything down the line.

Pretty much a "hit the ball where it is pitched" philosophy with "staying inside the ball" the hitter's self reminder to resist the temptation to pull everything. Works for me.

 

[rdbass]

"staying inside the ball"

'Hit the inside seams' thinking...
Don't 'cast' the hands early.

 

[Yellowjacket]

The below quote is what really opened my eyes to staying inside the ball.

The snap-hooked ball—the pitch pulled foul so violently it curves away from the field—elicits oohs and aahs from the crowd but groans from batting coaches. It's the giveaway that a hitter's hands have worked away from his body and "around," or "outside," the baseball.

The confusion comes when we talk about keeping your hands inside the ball. How can you get your hands outside the ball? All of this boils down to hitting the inside part of the ball with the bat or hitting it square. If a batter hits the outside half of the ball, this is when everything becomes pulled.

I have seen plenty of dead pull hitters that do extremely well, but I wonder how much better they could be by hitting the inside part of the ball and using the entire field of play.

 

[Yellowjacket]

http://www.baseballcoaches.org/hittingflaws3.pdf

This article helps simplify keeping your hands inside the ball into something I could visualize.